Sony GPS-CS3KA GPS Digital Imaging Accessory (White) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This makes geo-tagging easier.
I had a different GPS logger before which was Windows-only. It worked well but the software was a bit kludgy. It did things I didn't care about. All I want is the GPS coordinates in the photo's file. It was trying to be a photo-organizer. When I moved to a Mac I saw the Sony GPS logger and the fact that it doesn't require an OS and does everything on the fly and thought, "This is what I want - it's just shy of actually having the camera do it but it's getting pretty close."
This GPS logger includes Windows software for organizing your photos and importing them and showing them on a map, etc. I haven't tried it.
Anyway, the basic deal is this: You synchronize your camera to the clock in the display of this device (which is better than my old one which didn't have a display - you had to synchronize it at the computer or using a separate GPS or some other synchronized timepiece). You go out and take pictures and carry this logger with you. At the end of the day you slide your memory stick or SD card into this device and it will add the coordinates to each of the pictures. Nothing more you need to do. If you take those photos and load them onto Flickr then they'll show up on the map there.
Two annoying things:
- You have to open/close the back cover when you insert your flash memory. The back-cover is more like a traditional batter cover but there is a little switch there that looks to see when the cover is open or not and the unit will not function if the cover is open. I suspect that this is to stop someone from pulling the flash memory when it's updating but it seems like a needless extra step.
- It will only update photos in batches of 60. You leave the flash memory in the device (with the cover closed) and just cycle through multiple sets of 60 photos (it sees whether the photo already has the info and excludes it from the next batch). Still, kind of annoying that you can't just put the flash memory in and say, "do it!," and have it update the entire lot.
It uses a single AA battery which is nice as you can just take some rechargeable batteries with you and swap them out as needed and recharge them when you get home. My old GPS logger had a specialized internal battery, which worked fine, but I had to remember to bring something that would let me charge it each night (a USB mini-B cable and some kind of power source). With this I can just swap the batteries out when needed and, if I forget, I can just buy some AA batteries when I'm out.


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i-gotU GT-120 Travel Blog Master (USB GPS, Data Logger, SiRF III Chipset) (Bumper Case, Data Cable and Software Included) (GT-120) Review

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(More customer reviews)I live on 20 acres surrounded by much larger properties and there are large gaps in our fence and when our dogs were disappearing for several hours at a time I wanted to know where they were going. Using this little device I logged them going everywhere they were not supposed to go and places I had no idea they could get to. The track was so good I could even determine that they had been chasing something through the hills. I found an old knife case that fit on their collar and made it waterproof by putting it in a baggy. Came back wet on the outside and dry on the inside.
They are now grounded and lost their run privelidges. Now I am going to find a new use for this great little gadget. Worked great and software was very easy to use.

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What's New: # Larger memory capacity for long trips: 64,000 waypoints. 4 times memory then GT-100# 30% less power consumption vs GT-100# Faster satellite acquisition:

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AGL3080: Amod AGL3080 GPS Data Logger (Windows and Mac Image Software included) Review

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(More customer reviews)With Apple releasing iPhoto '09 with support for geotagged photography I immediately wanted to utilize this new feature set. I do a lot outdoors: Geocaching, Boy Scouts, hiking, bicycling, so I saw a great way to track my "expeditions" through my photography.
I found this GPS Data Logger and it advertises heavily that it is MAC OSX compliant. I looked at the reviews for this device on Amazon and various other websites. Most of the negative comments didn't alarm me as they were for the most part due to a misunderstanding of what the device does or they didn't like a feature set.
What I have learned is this:
1. GPS Photo Tracker software - This software comes in the box from AMOD and embeds the GPS locations into the digital photograph JPEGs. This is written only for Microsoft Windows and does exist for Macintosh OSX. In fact if you have Vista 64 don't bother installing the software that comes with the device; it will crash. This is a known bug and AMOD has a fixed version on their website.
2. The GPS device looks like a thumb drive to any computer and the GPS tracks are stored in ASCII. This allows any computer to look at the data, there are no proprietary formats or synchronization drivers. This is what they call "Driverless" and is a in my opinion a very good decision.
3. Upgrades to the firmware must be run from Windows computers. If you don't happen to own a Windows computer, you're out of luck. This is not a very good decision when calling your product MAC compatible.
You might be asking; "So, if the photo-linking software supplied by AMOD does not exist for MAC computers and firmware upgrades only exist for Windows computers, how can they say it is compatible with MAC"?
The device itself is compatible with MACs because it looks like a thumb drive and has a third party software package that comes in the package to link the GPS tacks to photos. More on the third party software later.
I think that the firmware upgrades should be written for all operating systems that it is deemed compatible. For example to be called Macintosh compatible, firmware upgrades should run from a Macintosh computer. Garmin now supports MACs and did not claim to be MAC compatible until they had the support software for Macintosh computers.
To allow Macintosh users to link GPS locations to JPEGs, the AMOD is shipped with a JetPhoto Studio. Out of the box you can use this software to attribute the photographs with the GPS track locations. However I say attribute because the GPS location is not embedded into the JPEG. The location is kept in the JetPhoto photo album and assigned to the photo. What this means is that if you link the GPS location to the photograph in JetPhoto Studio and then send the photo to a friend the GPS location does not go with the photograph, it remains only in the JetPhoto album.
To actually embed the GPS location into the JPEG you must purchase JetPhoto Studio Pro for an additional $25. I was not happy about this, but I saw other features I liked in the Pro version that I like and purchased JetPhoto Studio Pro. I tested embedding the GPS location into my JPEGs and it works fine. But now I must run my photos through JetPhoto and then import them into iPhoto which takes extra time.
The only other thing that I think important is that when I first tried the device it worked, then I did a "Clean Disk" operation and that was the last time it worked. I tried installing the latest firmware, removed the batteries, etc. nothing worked. I made a quick call to Semsons (who sold me the product through Amazon) and they determined it was faulty. They replaced it and the new one has been working fine for the few days I've had it.
In summary; the AMOD AGL3080 will work with a MAC but to get the full features you will need to purchase JetPhoto Studio Pro for an extra $25, or find a shareware program that does GPS photo linking. I gave this 3 stars because firmware upgrades are written only for Windows and MAC users are not fully supported with the software included in the box which forces MAC users to purchase the Pro version of JetPhoto or start searching the web for software.

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Large data capacity - stores over 256 000 data records: AGL3080 Photo Tracker is a GPS-based data logger designed to provide location information for digital photos. Unlike other similar productsAGL3080 does not need driver to operate. When you plug AGL3080 into a computer via USB portit will simply appears as an external drive. The recorded log is standard NMEA format which is compatible with many online tools such as JetPhotoGPSVisualizeretc.

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Columbus V-900 Bluetooth GPS Data Logger (microSD , Voice Tag for POI, Driverless, Push to Log, 25 millions waypoints*, XP/Vista/ Linux/Mac OSX Compatible) Review

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(More customer reviews)I used this over a 3 week trip through Mexico, Argentina, and Chile in order to geotag my photos. I didn't want a camera specific logged which I'd have to attach to my camera because I didn't want to deal with yet another cable or strap hanging off the camera body. We were planning on doing a lot of hiking in Patagonia so I also didn't want to carry a full size GPS which would weigh me down. So the small size and low weight of the V900 was perfect. I usually just turn it on when I head out, throw it into my camera bag, and turn it off at the end of the day. During my trip, the gps coordinates were accurate enough. Though back in NYC, when surrounded by tall buildings, it can take several minutes to get a gps lock and the accuracy drops off. It will sometimes give a location that is a few blocks away from my true location.
There are a few websites out there that claim 24 hours of battery life in its 'logging only' mode, but I've only gotten about 12 hours at most. I haven't tried it as a bluetooth gps receiver. The logger accepts a micro SD memory card and a 12 hour log takes approximately 4MB. There is no way to adjust how often log points are updated under the 'normal' logging mode. You can select a frequency between 10 and 100 minutes when in 'spy mode.'
Unfortunately, when you connect the logger to a computer through the USB port, the card is not readable. The USB port is there only for charging or powering the device. The only way to read the logging data, is to pull the card out and to access it through a separate memory card reader. The card has to be formatted under the FAT file system, but that's not a problem for Mac users.
The log data files are CSV text files which you can read or copy on a Mac or PC, but they are not in a standard format. The logger comes with a Java app which can read the data log file and tag photos, but it does not support RAW files. This app can export the data log as a .kmz file which is fine for Google Earth, but it doesn't work for some photo geotagging programs. For my work flow, I'll use a program, NMEA2KMZ, to convert the CSV file to .gpx, then use houdageo to geotag my photo RAW files. At that point, I can import the photos into Aperture.
The provided Java application can also be used to configure the device. The only options are:
1) to choose between 'Standard' and 'Professional' modes which basically gives you different logging data points.
2) to set or deactivate the overspeed alert.
3) to set the 'spy mode' timer frequency.
Again, since the computer cannot access the memory card within the V900, it simply writes these configuration options to a text file, which you have to manually copy to the memory card through a card reader. An option to disable beeping when turning the device on or off, or when inserting and ejecting the memory card would also be nice.
Its far from perfect, but if you're willing to deal with the shortcomings, the V900 will work fine.Update: TimeAlbum 1.61 now supports exporting of the CVS data files to the NMEA file format. This is an improvement since houdageo, gpsbabel, and other gps programs will recognize this format. I no longer have to go through the trouble of starting Windows in Parallels just to run the NMEA2KMZ151 program in order to convert it to gpx.

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Columbus V-900 Bluetooth GPS Data Logger is the world first data logger with Voice-Tag function for adding your personal voice labels to any waypoints. It is easy to use, compact, and provides excellent GPS performance. You name it, the Columbus V-900 data logger records almost all available GPS parameters such as: Date, Time, Latitude, Longitude, Altitude, Speed, Heading, Fix Mode, PDOP, HDOP, VDOP and Voice!. Software compatibility: The Columbus V-900 is compatible with nearly any GPS mapping software available and fully compatible with NMEA standards (all versions). The included Time Album data logger application is compatible with Windows XP, 2000, Vista, Linux, Mac OS and Mac OS X.Hardware compatibility: Works with Windows XP, 2000, Vista, Linux, Mac OS and Mac OS X with a SD Card Reader to download logged data and Bluetooth Radio is required to use the Columbus V-900 as a GPS receiver.

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